NASA unveils design for message heading to Jupiter's moon Europa
Friday, 08 March 2024 17:05
When it launches in October, the agency's Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public.
Drones could help map the lunar surface with extreme precision
Friday, 08 March 2024 16:55
Exploring the moon has become increasingly more of a focal point lately, especially with a series of landers recently launched with various degrees of success. One of the difficulties those landers and any future human missions face is understanding the terrain they are landing on and potentially traversing in the case of a rover or human. To help fight this problem, a team of researchers from Switzerland has developed a drone concept that could help map out some of the more interesting, potentially hazardous areas to explore on the moon.
Mapping the moon has already been a priority for years. However, some of the more exciting regions, such as the Permanently Shadows Regions (PSR) at the lunar poles that hold a significant amount of water ice, have only been mapped to a resolution of about 1m per pixel in the best images of them. That's including artificial enhancement by AI-backed algorithms.
That level of resolution isn't near enough to provide useful planning data for any potential rover or human missions—a given rover's wheel itself won't even more that in width, let alone hope to traverse an obstacle of that size.
We're working out how to solve crimes in space—the final frontier of forensic science
Friday, 08 March 2024 15:27
NASA's Artemis program is scheduled to return astronauts to the moon and establish a permanent orbiting laboratory by the end of the decade.
Meanwhile, private companies are making significant steps in taking paying customers further into space. As humanity's footprint expands beyond the familiar terrains of Earth to the moon and possibly beyond, an intriguing new field emerges from the final frontier: astroforensics.
This discipline, still in its infancy, is propelled by the inevitability of human nature. Space presents a unique and harsh environment for forensic investigations. Settings that present altered gravity, cosmic radiation, extremes in temperature, and the need for oxygen-providing climate systems provide a few examples of the unearthly variables that are faced by future explorers.
Unlike Earth, where gravity, a constant force, shapes many aspects of our reality, the significant reduction of gravity in space introduces novel challenges in understanding how evidence behaves. This shift is crucial for forensic sciences like bloodstain pattern analysis, which relies heavily on gravitational effects to determine the circumstances under which blood stains are formed.
The thought of gravity in space immediately conjures images of astronauts hauntingly suspended in the void of space or floating gymnastics in the International Space Station (ISS).
CSI in space: Analyzing bloodstain patterns in microgravity
Friday, 08 March 2024 15:17
As more people seek to go where no man has gone before, researchers are exploring how forensic science can be adapted to extraterrestrial environments.
A new study by Staffordshire University and the University of Hull highlights the behavior of blood in microgravity and the unique challenges of bloodstain pattern analysis aboard spacecraft.
Bloodstain expert Zack Kowalske is a Crime Scene Investigator based in Atlanta, U.S., and led the study as part his Ph.D. research at Staffordshire University.
"Studying bloodstain patterns can provide valuable reconstructive information about a crime or accident. However, little is known about how liquid blood behaves in an altered gravity environment. This is an area of study that, while novel, has implications for forensic investigations in space," he commented.
"Forensic science is more than just trying to solve crimes; it additionally has a role in accident reconstruction or failure analysis.
Week in images: 04-08 March 2024
Friday, 08 March 2024 13:10
Week in images: 04-08 March 2024
Discover our week through the lens
The Whispering of Huginn
Friday, 08 March 2024 13:00
Video:
00:04:00
Andreas Mogensen launched on his Huginn mission in August 2023 to the International Space Station, becoming the first non-US astronaut to pilot SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Andreas became commander of the International Space Station in September 2023, becoming the longest serving European commander in January 2024. His mission was spent on more than 30 European experiments and plenty of international ones as well, ranging from water purification to studies of human physiology and thunderclouds. After 6 months on the International Space Station, Andreas will come down to Earth together with his Crew-7 crewmates Jasmin Moghbeli (NASA), Satoshi
This Whispering of Huginn
Friday, 08 March 2024 13:00
Video:
00:04:00
Andreas Mogensen launched on his Huginn mission in August 2023 to the International Space Station, becoming the first non-US astronaut to pilot SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Andreas became commander of the International Space Station in September 2023, becoming the longest serving European commander in January 2024. His mission was spent on more than 30 European experiments and plenty of international ones as well, ranging from water purification to studies of human physiology and thunderclouds. After 6 months on the International Space Station, Andreas will come down to Earth together with his Crew-7 crewmates Jasmin Moghbeli (NASA), Satoshi
Astro Chat with Rosemary Coogan | ESA Explores podcast
Friday, 08 March 2024 13:00
Video:
00:21:52
Rosemary Coogan, one of ESA’s five astronaut candidates currently undergoing basic astronaut training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, shares her journey from studying the stars to training for space travel. Join us as we discuss her experiences in astronaut training, her favorite lessons, and her excitement for the future of space exploration.
This is Episode 4 of our ESA Explores podcast series introducing the ESA astronaut class of 2022, recorded in November 2023.
Music and audio editing by Denzel Lorge. Cover art by Gaël Nadaud.
EarthCARE bids adieu to Europe
Friday, 08 March 2024 10:00
Video:
00:03:29
After years of development and a rigorous testing programme, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has left Munich, Germany, and is now on its away to SpaceX’s launch site in Vandenberg, California. Once it arrives, it will be put into storage for a few weeks until it is time to ready the satellite for liftoff – which is scheduled to launch in May on a Falcon 9 rocket.
The Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer, or EarthCARE for short, is the most complex Earth Explorer mission to date. The new satellite will look at the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and
The geodetic community meets Genesis
Friday, 08 March 2024 09:45
The first Genesis science workshop brought together the ESA project team and the scientific geodesy community to establish the Genesis Scientific Exploitation Team and to set the ground for future collaboration.
Space-enabled connectivity steers self-driving cars
Friday, 08 March 2024 09:12
In one of the longest-running trials of a self-driving vehicle, collecting data over 13 000 km of autonomous travel, Darwin Innovation Group has been testing a novel driverless shuttle bus at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, in Oxford, UK; home to ESA’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT). The technology is funded under the ESA 5G/6G Programme with the support of the UK Space Agency.
Conversations with ESA Directors on International Women’s Day
Friday, 08 March 2024 08:00
For International Women's Day 2024, we're acknowledging the remarkable careers of the women in key Directorate positions at ESA: Simonetta Cheli, Geraldine Naja and Carole Mundell. Read about the impactful work, pivotal life experiences and their insights on fostering a more inclusive future.
Earth from Space: Ireland
Friday, 08 March 2024 08:00
Image:
The lush landscape of the island of Ireland and the coasts of Scotland, Wales and England, are pictured in this view from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission.